Ishrail's Worthy
by InTheArmsofaTheif
Summary: When I died, I was deemed worthy, and given a second chance at living. However, it was in a different universe, one I recognized from my days of a fangirl. Now my being here is changing things, and I'm kind of scared how.
1. The Worthy

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**Chapter One**

_The Worthy_

This story starts with my death. Thinking about it makes me cringe. Not the death itself. That I accept. But the concept. God, the fucking concept that this could _actually _happen. It was like a bad fan fiction. No. Really. It was like a bad fan fiction. I had read at least two good stories of the same cannon that had this premise, which can only mean there are at least a hundred shit ones. Then there are all the other cannons. God, couldn't this at least be Harry Potter? But no.

Sorry, ranting. I do that.

This story starts with my death. I don't want to come across like I'm looking for sympathy. I died. I was young. It happens. But it's what happened afterwards that's the kicker. When I died, I ended up where some may call heaven. I hadn't been of a religion when I was alive, per say. I believed there could be a higher power, but I didn't believe in the afterlife. I liked to ponder it and make all these farfetched ideas and make other people question their beliefs on the matter, but I didn't actually believe it would happen. That you died and then there was more.

Turns out I was wrong.

I died and my spirit, or whatever, came before judgment. Scared me shitless, if spirits had bodily functions, that is. I didn't even have a ghost of a body. I was like a floaty gas bubble thing.

God, I guess you could call him that, maybe Saint Peter because he makes the decision to let you in… but there's no one above him in this spirit world… BACK ON TOPIC. God sat before me and passed my judgment. He was giant, human looking to my eyes(not that I had those either), but ethereal and misty and not quite tangible despite his visibility.

But, at this point, I wasn't my cocky usual self. I had just died and now I was trembling in fear in front of an _actual god_. Suddenly, I started crying uncontrollably. He (or she, the god was kind of gender neutral) simply watched me with a stoic smile until I stopped. Then finally, the god spoke.

"You have a choice," he said.

"A choice?"

He nodded. "You can choose to remember, or you can choose to forget."

I stayed silent for a moment, for an eternity. Time had no meaning. I felt the need to pick my words carefully. "What would you choose?" I finally asked.

The god smiled down at me. "The choice is not mine. I always remember."

"But which would you choose?"

"Most care to know what would happen when the choice is made, but you ask my choice instead," he contemplated.

I had a pretty good idea. I mean, I could have been terribly, awfully, grossly wrong and it could have meant a lot of shit, but I had a pretty good idea. Like I said, I _liked_ to ponder what the afterlife was like. This choice was something I had thought of in my past. Forget, and you choose reincarnation, to live again. Remember, and you stay as a spirit forever. What staying as a spirit foretold, I couldn't tell you. That didn't happen to me.

A look I couldn't comprehend came over the god's face. "I would choose neither."

"Then I choose neither."

And then I was gone. It was kind of like dying all over again. One moment I was there, the next I wasn't. And then I was here.

Where's here? Well, that's a tough one to explain. Fuck that shit, no it's not. It's simple as hell. I was in a bad fan fic. Or a good one, I haven't gotten far enough to know. Either way, I was in a slightly cliché fan fiction. I just wish I could have chosen the fandom. I mean, I really really like _Yu Yu Hakusho_, but damn. I could have been in Harry fricking Potter! Or, dear god, I could have been in _Doctor Who_. The possibilities!

I guess the best way to explain the _how _and details and shit is that it's kind of like _Inkheart_, if you've ever read that book. By adding or subtracting a character, the story we know and love, the "cannon" stays the same on the outside, but there _is_ a world beyond those pages and that world has lost or gained a character from whatever point in the story the person was reading. And this there in affects the story of the characters.

So things probably aren't going to happen exactly the way they happened in cannon. I kind of popped in the middle of it.

God things are weird.

So, back to what happened.

When I choose neither, I was suddenly standing in front of a different god. One I recognized. Although it took me a while to place him, I was standing in front of Koenma.

At first he didn't know what the heck was going on. He had just come back from a meeting with his father, and in pops this girl. And yeah, I had my body back. (Or rather, I had _a _body back. I'll talk about this later.)

I was in complete shock. How much can one girl go through, right? First I die, then I choose neither, then I'm in some palace office with a very attractive man with shaggy brown hair and dressed in some traditional Japanese garb (no pacifier, fyi). He looked just as scared as I felt. Then he pulled out some device, registered my "waves" or whatever, and sighed. I still didn't know what was going on.

"You chose neither, didn't you?"

My eyes went wide. _How did he know?_

Koenma sat down at his desk and motioned for me to sit, which I did. "Damn Ishrail. He's always doing this."

I stared at him, still in shock. I didn't know what to say to any of this. And Koenma doesn't give off as much of an "all powerful, all seeing God" that the other guy did. Ishrail, apparently.

Koenma leaned back in his chair and looked at me with a sorry look. "Forgive me, but I'm terribly busy. I'm going to have you watch this tape instead."

The Prince pulled out a remote and pointed at the far wall. A monitor came down and a video started playing. It seemed like an '80s instructional video.

"Did you die?" A narrator's voice asked. "Are you from one of these planets?" The screen showed Earth, labeled, along with a number of other planets I had never heard of. "You're from the universe XXWilliams and your spirit world God was Ishrail."

"This is weird," I said. Koenma shushed me.

"There are a number of different universes. Ishrail, from time to time, when he deems a spirit 'worthy'," the word even came up on the screen in quotations, "he will send your spirit to a different universe. Depending on why he deemed you worthy depends on which of the universes he sent you to."

I watched, slightly fascinated. This was one dick head God that liked messing with the other worlds' Gods. I gave him my props.

"Congratulations, for making it to the XISilverstein, he found you worthy because you were clever and refused ultimatums," the movie told me. "And he has given you a second chance to live with your memories intact. Please take this time to assess your new body."

The screen went to stale image for a while. I did take that time to assess my new body. My skin was a different shade, more olive toned. I was thinner. This was not the Germanic, pleasantly plump body I had lived with for twenty-four years. I touched my face and around my eyes. _Am I Asian? _I thought wildly. I stood. I was shorter. Either that or the things here were bigger than usual. I didn't like this feeling. I didn't like it at all.

The movie continued. "Thank you for taking this so well. Koenma will place you with a life I am sure you will love until you can finally go to the after world."

Koenma turned off the monitor. His pile of work had shifted significantly since the start of the short video.

"Wait," I said, "wait, _Koenma_. Koenma, Yu Yu Hakusho Koenma."

"Yu Yu Hakusho?" he questioned me.

"Yusuke Urameshi, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama, Keiko, Genkai… I can't remember any other names."

Koenma furrowed his brow. "Well this is a new development. How do you know about them?" he asked calmly.

I gulped. In the good fanfictions where this stuff happened, the main character kept this secret. In the shit ones, they got discovered right away. But in the shit ones, they were shit for other reasons too. And I always was yelling at the main character for not just spilling. How much easier it would have made things! I opted for the easy way out, hoping my story didn't turn to shit. _Oh God, I hope I'm not a fucking Mary-Sue_.

"In my world, this is a manga and an anime."

I blushed thinking of all the fanfiction I had read. I think the fan fics were more embarrassing to be associated with than the story itself.

Before Koenma could ask anything more, a blue ogre entered the room. I was taken aback. Cartoons sure didn't prepare me for the reality of it all. Real muscles, real blue skin, real sharp teeth, real matted yellow hair, real horns. But what got me was the face. This wasn't CGI. This wasn't a movie. Suddenly, shit got real for me.

"Koenma, sir," the ogre said, his gruff voice nothing like the George from the anime, "you're needed at the Dark Tournament."

My heart stopped. Actually it didn't. It was the same clenching of stomach, weight in the chest feeling, but there was something off with it. At the time, I couldn't quite tell what it was. Anyway, the reason I had that feeling in the first place was because the Dark Tournament was my favorite part of the entire cannon.

"I want to go," I said before I could think about it. I mean, how many chances do you get to see an anime in real life.

Koenma looked up at me with steely eyes. My breath caught. Sure he was attractive, but never in the anime was he so… serious and cold. That was my first clue something was different. But then he sighed and gave me a softer expression. "I'm not going to put you into danger." Koenma put down his stamp and walked around his desk. He ran a hand through his hair. There was an exhaustion behind his eyes that came from years of being overworked and seeing too many terrible things. "However, I do need to know what you know about this world."

I looked back down at my hands. It was strange. They were different hands. "I don't know if everything is the same as it was in the anime. I never actually read the manga, and there might be some differences between the two. But even still."

"Just tell me what you know."

I took a deep breath and told him everything. It wasn't much. Though more of the story came to me as I told it, along with other character names, I hadn't watched the show in years. I hadn't even looked at a fan fiction since I was a teen.

"Then they save Yukina and Toguro makes them compete in the Dark Tournament?" It came out like a question because I knew I was missing bits. I stopped there though.

"There are holes in your story, but you do know a significant amount, and you haven't said anything that was incorrect. What about beyond the tournament?" he asked.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. It wasn't that I was against telling him the potential future, but that I really didn't remember too much about it. I had seen the first two sagas about five times. I had only seen the last two twice.

"Um… something about a past spirit detective. And there's the fun house trio first. And then there's Mukuro and Yomi and a tournament."

Koenma dead panned. "We have to deal with them?"

I shook my head. "Not really. They just become big characters. Sorry I can't be more help. But it's probably best you don't know the future, right. Besides, me being here may change things." Which they did. I've seen and read a lot of science fiction and fantasy to know as much.

"I'm sending you far away from them. I can't be bothered with-"

"No, please," I begged. Again, fear gripped me. I had just been thrown into a new world, in a new body, with nobody. I had a connection with the Yu Yu Hakusho boys, even if it was just from a fan girl perspective. "Let me go to the Dark Tournament."

"Well, I suppose you won't be in too much trouble, being a demon."

Now it was my turn to dead pan. "I'm a demon?"

Koenma sighed and looked me over. "Ishrail didn't give the other souls demon bodies, but yours is."

I patted around, trying to find some inhuman body part I missed before, but there was nothing.

"It's your energy," he told me. "Demonic, and originating from XXWilliams."

"But I wasn't a demon."

"That's because there are no demons in XXWilliams."

"Then how?"

Koenma shrugged. "Are you sure you want to come to the Dark Tournament?"

I nodded. "I literally had to die for a chance to see something like this. I wouldn't miss it."

I followed Koenma out of his office and all of a sudden we were standing outside of the arena. At that point I was starting to get used to the disambiguation of space, but it was still very disorienting. Konema walked briskly, not making sure I was behind him. I trailed him all the way up to a VIP booth. "You're staying here," he told me firmly. I didn't dare object. Besides, knowing how often the stadium gets blown up, the further away the better. I looked out the window, looking over the area my mouth dropped.

So many demons. It was all real. But more than that, it was the four boys entering the arena.

Follow me into Chapter TWO where the craziness continues!

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Notes:

Okay, before I get any complaints, I'm not actually ragging on anybody's fan fiction. This story was inspired by two really good fan fics of a similar premise where the main character dies and then for whatever reason ends up in YYHverse. (_Alice Alive_ and _Future Talk_, both of which I suggest reading) I really liked the idea and wanted more of it, and when that happens to me I just start writing it, because it's easier to write my own story than to find one to read.

That's about it. Hope you enjoy.

Also, I don't know if I'm actually going to keep up with this. It's more a bit of fun than anything else. I'm investing my time into _In the Wake of What Follows. _So, read that if you're looking for a good YYH fic. This is really just a bit of fluff.


	2. The Boys

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**Chapter Two**

_The Boys_

Now, sitting in a VIP booth has its perks. One of them being I could sit and stare at the boys and no one was around to think me insane. I was astonished by their appearances. Like it was the with ogre, cartoons really give you nothing to prepare you for what these guys really looked like.

At first, my eyes darted between the four of them so fast I wasn't really retaining any info. But I had time, they were arguing over something in the arena (I had the speakers in the room turned off) and they still had a match to fight. So, first I directed my attention to who was obviously Kuwabara, the easiest to spot out of the bunch. He was taller than his other teammates, but zooming in on my screen, he also had a mess of freckles. He had to have been half Irish or something to get that coloring, because the carrot top seemed natural. But what really shook me was how young he looked. Anime's have this way of making everybody look either six or fully mature. Before me was a fourteen year old kid.

My eyes went to Yusuke, who I knew was the same age, and for the first time looking at him I saw not a fan girl reaction of seeing a real life Yusuke, but just a boy. Yusuke looked even younger than Kuwabara, who probably looked old for his age due to his height. His hair was the sleek black of the Japanese and everything about him screamed troubled youth. In truth, he looked like a taller version of the Chinese boy in _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_. A bit of my heart broke. Who in their right mind would force a kid into this shit? Sure, it made a good show, but seriously, couldn't they at least made them seventeen or something.

I guess when someone's fiction is actually someone else's reality, you don't get to make up every detail.

Then I turned my attention to the demons in the group. Just as cool and collected as the anime made him appear, Kurama stood like a J-pop idol with his red hair. Well, it was more of a deep auburn and could actually be considered natural. Dear lord was he beautiful. I felt like a perv, knowing his body was only like sixteen or something. I was twenty four years old for god sakes! Kurama would make an excellent idol, though. His looks and charm (which I'm assuming is there based off the anime) were more than enough to make the masses of Japanese girls swoon.

By the time I finished observing Kurama, Koenma showed up amongst the boys. I thought it was weird, knowing Genkai was their fifth fighter. Then I remembered the one time Koenma stepped in. "Oh, shit." Genkai was already dead. I held my breath for a second before turning the speakers back on in my booth. They were going to start the first match. Kurama stepped into the ring as did what's his face with the black hair and the mask. He was creepier looking in real life than the anime showed, but still attractive. God, is everyone attractive here?

For the first time I found myself observing the other team. The large Tuguro really did look like Schwarzenegger. In fact, I would say they were they were doppelgangers, they looked so similar. The little weird morphing one though just looked like an ugly freak, answering my question. No, not _everyone_ here was attractive. But their sponsor was. I could see what Shizuru saw in him. Definitely my type if not for the whole world destruction thing.

That's when I heard an explosion. _Wow, I need to pay attention to things_. The fight had already started, and Kurama was bleeding. The announcer was saying things, but I was having hard time making it out. The speakers seemed to be broken. I ignored the static sound coming through them and fixed my attention on the fight. They were pretty still for a while, and honestly, this kind of thing never interested me. Fighting in anime was one thing, but somehow it lost its appeal in real life. Despite the supernatural aspect, it still seemed to me like two macho men duking it out in the area and I was getting kind of bored.

My eyes traveled back to team Urameshi. Hiei was the only one I hadn't taken my time to look over. Honestly, he didn't seem all the short, nor was his hair five inches tall or something crazy. Sure, it spiked a little, but it was nothing outrageous. He was just shorter than Yusuke, but nothing crazy short. His height got exaggerated a lot in the anime, I think. I zoomed in on him in my screen, but with the angle I couldn't get a good look at his face. At the time I was peeved, but I got a chance to see him for myself close up later, so it's all good.

Actually, I got to meet them all, but that's for later. Anywho, I sat in the booth watching the fight. Then Youko Kurama showed up. And, may I say, completely drool worthy. I don't know how to describe him. His hair was silver and his body was perfect and his face gave the impression he was the coolest person ever. My fourteen year old fan girl feels took over during the entire time he was on. I couldn't look away. By the time he left, I was officially invested in the match and had to watch the whole thing play out. Even though I already knew the outcome.

Surprisingly, the whole ordeal didn't gross me out as much as I thought it would. Sure, I watched plenty of gruesome deaths on TV before, but never in real life. Somehow, I feel my demon body enjoyed it.

I continued to watch the matches, which I would describe to you if it weren't for the fact that they're exactly the same as the anime. Like, wow, I'm impressed how accurate the anime was. So, as to not bore you, if you're interested in what I saw, just rewatch the damn show. Except, there was one part I should probably tell you. It has nothing to do with them.

I was completely caught up in watching the show. Then there was some explosion and a dust cloud covered my window making it dark so I couldn't see what was going on. However, it made the glass a nice reflective surface, and for the first time since being there, I saw myself.

My face _was_ Asian. It was weird. Wrong. I shouldn't be Asian. I've lived my entire life as a white girl. My nose was round and my lips were thin and my cheeks were high and my eyes were _purple_ and it was the most disorienting thing I had ever gone through. For the few minutes my window was blacked out by the dust, I waved my arms and watched my reflection do the same. Sure, looking at my hands they were different, but not so different that I couldn't deal. By my face! This was not my face.

The dust cloud settled, and for the rest of the match, I watched unsettled by the fact that I was not in my own body.

Then came the part I had forgotten about. Sure, I knew we won and that what's his face sponsor of the bad guy team was crazy, but I _had_ forgotten how the Dark Tournament ended. First was Kuwabara's death, which I knew was fake, but still, it freaked me out. Yusuke's energy after that went crazy. I was lucky enough that none of Toguro's batshit energy reached me before that. But then came the end, and Toguro was down and out, and then long haired crazy billionaire blew up the stadium. How could I have forgotten he _blew up the frickin stadium!_

The floor shook beneath me. I raced out of the place and oddest of coincidences, I spotted a couple of girls with blue hair with a comatose brunette sitting between them. My mind raced, recognizing the girls despite their now 3D, nonanimated bodies. I raced over to the three girls. "Boton, Yukina, Keiko?" The two conscious of the three girls looked up and gave a worried look. "We have to get out of here, the building is going to collapse."

"Who are you?" Boton asked.

"No time for this," I shouted and grabbed Keiko. I was surprised how light she was. My old body would have struggled carrying her, but it was easy now. "RUN!"

With Keiko in my arms, the other girls had no choice but to follow. We dogged falling rubble and I kicked out of the way any demons in our path and somehow we managed to make it out of the collapsing building. Behind us a number of others got caved in.

"Oh no, the boys are in there. And we lost Shizuru!" Boton said.

"We're still not safe. The building's still crumbling and we're rather close," I told them and headed off with Keiko in my arms.

"Okay, okay, but who _are _you?" Boton insisted. "Why should we trust a strange demon?"

"Demon?" I thought, before remembering Koenma's explanation of my new body. "Oh, right. Just, I came here with Koenma."

"She seems like an honest person, Boton," Yukina said sweetly.

I led them over towards the forest edge, far enough from the stadium to avoid damage. I set Keiko down and rested, although I wasn't even really tired. It was weird.

Boton kept giving me worrying glances and Yukina just stayed quiet. It wasn't long before the boys came running, having gotten out and spotted them.

"Who's this chick?" Yusuke asked, before checking out Keiko.

"Don't know," Boton said. "But she helped us out of the building, and she says she came here with Koenma."

Now, seeing the boys from afar and on a screen was one thing, but believe me, seeing them this close was mind boggling. I didn't know how to react, and once again I had been put into a stupor and just stared. It was like how at a concert or seeing a play with a favorite actor. On stage they're still that image you've been in love with all over the internet, just slightly more real. There's still this mystic feel to them, like they're a million miles away. Seeing the boys in the arena was like that. And seeing them here, in front of me, was something indescribable.

Kuwabara was gushing over Yukina and Yusuke had managed to wake up Keiko, earning him a smack across the cheek.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked, taking a threatening step forward.

Automatically, I went into a fighting position. I blinked a few times at my body's response and pulled out of it. Staring at my arms, and turning them over as if they'd reveal some secret. "Weird," I muttered.

The group all looked at each other, unsure about me no doubt. Someone was about to speak up, I wasn't really paying attention at the time. Bad habit, I know. I'm surrounded by demons in a forgien world and my inability to focus on important things takes over. Gah! Anywho, someone was about to speak up, they started to, in fact, when Koenma and Shizuru came running towards them.

"Ah, I see you've already met," the Spirit Prince said dryly. "I suppose it's a good thing. I best keep you under watch until I can figure things out," he told me.

"Under watch? The video said you were supposed to find me a home, not make me some prisoner," I growled. Then I noticed I growled and clamped a hand to my throat. "This is so weird," I said, my eyes locked with Koenma's. It was even weirder how casually I was able to ignore my beloved characters.

"Koenma, Sir, what's going on?" Boton asked.

Everyone seemed to be interested, darting glances between me and the prince. Koenma sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Let's all head back to the hotel. You boys need rest. I'll explain on the way."

And he did, sort of. "There have been… incidents over the past millennia where souls from one universe have transferred over to another due to the meddling of that particular universe's spirit ruler."

"Ishrail, right?" I asked, having not fully grasped all of it myself.

"Right. We rulers of spirits really need to stop him because it's becoming a nuisance. Anyway, we need to keep an eye on this one because she potentially knows things about our future. Things I don't want any enemies getting a hold of."

"Like what?" Kuwabara asked.

"And how?" Kurama narrowed his eyes at me. It sent goose bumps down my arms. I had always been a fan girl of the red head.

"Not important," Koenma said with a wave of his hand. "What is important is that it's my job to keep her safe. She was right, I am supposed to provide her with a good life now that she's here, but because I need to keep her from being taken advantage of by any potential enemies, one of you is taking her in."

A chorus of what's and protests hit me and I felt a mix of disappointed rejection and excitement. I was going to be staying with someone from the group! The objections continued until we were all situated in the boy's room at the hotel and the excitement had worn off. They were unusually whinny. Well, Yusuke was. Also, Hiei and Kurama kept giving me weird looks and I was starting to feel terribly intimidated.

Keiko turned to me and frowned. "I just realized that we don't know your name."

Everyone looked up, shocked. It was true. A name had simply gone by the wayside as other questions seemed far more important.

"Svetlana. Svetlana Chesnokov. I'm Russian. Or, was Russian. Speaking of which, how come you're not speaking Japanese?"

"They are," Koenma informed me. "You're speaking the native demon tongue, which translates for us, and your ears translate for you."

"Oh. Extra weird. But super handy. I don't know any Japanese."

"Wait, you were Russian? You look plenty Japanese to me," Yusuke said.

"New body. Wasn't a demon before either," I said.

The gang still had many more questions, but everybody was so tired, they let it rest until the next day. Well, I wasn't tired, but, whatever. I slept on the floor of the boy's living room because I didn't have a room and the two demons there were still strong enough to take me if I tried anything, I guess. I don't really know the reasoning.

Anywho, we woke up super early to catch a ferry to the main land. I was surprised when, right before we left, Genkai showed up. I thought she came back later… I guess I'm mixing things up. Oh well. It was cool to watch the reunion, but I felt really left out. She didn't know who I was, after all.

On the boat, Kurama came up to me, curiosity evident in his oh my god heartstoppingly piercing green eyes. "So, Svetlana," he said, butchering my name. I suppose it was hard to say for a native Japanese.

"Just call me Irina, it's my middle name."

"Irina," Kurama said smoothly with a slight curve of his perfect lips. Okay, I need to stop. He looks like he's sixteen. This is so wrong. "What exactly is it that you know about us?"

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NOTES:

So, here's chapter two. It's complete shit, and I'm okay with that. It may get better. I do have ideas, kind of, of where I'm going with it now. Just, don't expect the quality of _In the Wake of What Follows. _I actually care about that story. This is just a fun piece, although I'll probably go all depressing on you later, because I'm so much better at writing drama than anything else. Oh well.

Anywho, thanks for **Ink_Winged **and **19Teardrop94** for reviewing. Glad to hear this is at least interesting someone! Hahaha.


	3. The Knowledge

**Chapter Three**

_The Knowledge_

"Yeah, what do you know about us?" Yusuke asked, having overheard Kurama. He and Hiei joined the red head in front of me and suddenly I felt cornered.

"It's complicated," I said, biting my lip nervously.

"Make it _less_ complicated," Hiei seethed, obviously not likeing me. I nearly whimpered from how intense the demon was.

"Well, as Koenma said, I'm from a different world, universe, whatever."

"How'd you get here, anyway," Yusuke demanded.

I blinked a few times, my mouth open like I was some dumb kid. "I died." I had thought they knew, not sure why. "I died, and Ishrail asked me a question, and I answered, and all of a sudden I was in front of Koenma."

Yusuke seemed pretty interested in Ishrail, but Kurama spoke before he could ask anything more. "That sounds fascinating," the kitsune said, completely uninterested, "but I will ask you again. What do you know about us? If it weren't important, Koenma wouldn't be bothered."

Okay, I was intimidated. Kurama made my legs shake. I leaned against the railing of the ferry and my fingers grasped at the metal, warm from the sun. "Um, well," I sighed and looked away. I did not know how to explain this. "In my world, you guys are all a story, one that I personally really liked. So, I know a lot. And I told Koenma what I remember, because it has been a long time since I paid any attention to that story."

"But what do you know," Kurama repeated, his eyes cold.

This was gonna be awkward. I could already tell. "I know that Yusuke died and became spirit detective. I know about how you two joined the team," I said, indicating towards Hiei and Kurama. "I know that Kurama used to be a master thief before he became human. I know how he became human. I knew that Genkai was coming back. I vaguely know about your next big case. Oh! I know that Hiei's Yukina's brother!"

A small part of my brain was thinking, _how could I forget something so obvious_. That part was quickly snuffed by the sword to my throat and the _how could I forget Hiei would kill me for saying that out loud_. More than that, was the complete _oh shit_ that was running through my brain. Surprisingly, not because of the sword. Rather, it was the lone ice apparition my eyes caught sight of behind the three boys. How can I be so frickin stupid!

"Hiei's my brother?"

And that was the first thing I fucked up from being here. Yukina never officially found this out. I had always figured she knew by the end of the show, but not this early. And not this out loud. Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuckety fuck shit.

"Oops," I muttered.

And then Hiei killed me. No, he didn't. He wanted to, trust me. But Kurama pulled him away. I wasn't allowed in the pow wow as Kurama forced Hiei to sit down with Yukina and spill things. I don't think Hiei said anything directly to Yukina. I remembered something about a promise not to tell her.

I found myself sulking on the deck, alone of course. Keiko came up to me at some point, thanking me for carrying her out of the stadium. "You would have made it out without me," I said quietly. "Yusuke was going to find you and all the boys helped you out." It was a vague memory, but I was sure it was true.

I could tell Keiko wanted to say something to comfort me, but I tried to smile and sent her back to the others. Mainland was closing in when Kurama came back out.

"I've fucked up everything," I told him before he could open his mouth. "I'm not supposed to be here. I'm so sorry."

Kurama leaned against the rail and looked over the water. "It doesn't matter," he told me. I looked at him startled. "What happened happened. You're here now, and you're our responsibility."

"But I'm not supposed to be here. I've changed things," I said. After sulking for a few hours I had a lot of time to think things over and I was officially in the state of freaking out. "I don't what to change things."

"It doesn't matter," he repeated. "We've talked it over. You'll be staying with Yusuke."

I felt my eyes widen and mouth drop. _His mom's a raging alcoholic! _How was I supposed to take shelter in a household that's not suitable for living in? Sure, I felt bad for Yusuke when remembering his living situation, but seriously. "What about Genkai?" I asked desperately. "That's what happens in all the fics. The OC lives with Genkai!"

"OC?" he asked, looking at me strangely. I clamped my mouth shut as heat rose to my cheeks. I knew that even with my new tanner complexion I was blushing furiously. Oh, dear lord, I was _not _going to explain fan fiction to them. Nope.

Instead, I completely ignored his curiosity and continued to rant about why living with Yusuke didn't seem like a smart idea at all. I even said that Genkai could maybe even train me a little. Being a new demon meant I probably have some abilities I need to keep in check, right? Wrong. Besides the feral reactions and the new strength and endurance, which was nothing beyond human capability, Kurama said I was virtually powerless. Why train a demon to be stronger when it would be easier to keep me in check if I'm weak, he reasoned. Pissed me off, could tell you that much.

But by the time we reached harbor, I had consented. I was going to be living with Yusuke Urameshi.

What bugged me more was the fact Kurama (who was apparently acting as spokesperson since my oh so attentive guardian Konema had already popped back to Spirit World) wanted me to consider applying to high school. Koenma was already on his way making fake documentation for me so I can be a "normal Japanese citizen."

"Hell no!" I blurted, forgetting that I was talking to one of my all-time favorite anime characters. The situation hadn't totally sunk in yet, but it was easy to forget. "God, how old do I look?"

It was a rhetorical question, but he answered nonetheless. "About the same age as my human body."

My mouth hung open, dumbstruck. "I look _sixteen_." I near choked on the word. As fun as TV makes it seem, being a teenager sucks. I hadn't exactly been planning on repeating those years. Kurama gave me a calculating look. He asked me how old I was and I sighed, crossing my arms uncomfortably. "Well, in all technicality this body is under a day old."

"Then let me rephrase," Kurama said, giving an overly polite smile. "How old were you when you died?"

"Twenty-four."

"Yes, well that is enough of an age gap to not be sixteen, but I'm afraid that's the age you look."

I eyed the boy standing next to me and began chewing my lip. It was a bad habit of mine. But I stopped pretty quickly. My lip felt different. My lips were thin and flat and not the plump ones I used to have. That really reminded me this wasn't my body. Anyway, the point is Kurama. Here he was, a demon who was god knows how old when he practically died and then was fucking reborn as a human. We were direct opposites, in a way.

"I'm trying to decide who has it worse, you or me," I said. He just quirked an eyebrow, unsure as to what I meant. "You had to start over from birth. I was just dropped in as a teen." I bit my lip again. The bad habit was stronger than the weird feel of a thin lip. "How'd you handle a new body?"

I tried my best to read Kurama's expression, but I was never very good at that. I could see something on his face, but what it was lost on me. "I have lived a very long time. And although these years as a human have been many, it's near nothing in comparison to my demon life. I knew it was only temporary, until I gained enough strength to command my old body back. It's already begun."

Thinking back to the drop dead gorgeous creature that I had seen for far too short a time in the arena, I knew this to be true. But I also knew Kurama, in the end, chose to be human. This was a Kurama that hadn't made that choice yet. This was the first time I truly, truly _hated _knowing things I shouldn't. The past is the past and I could have learned that in so many ways. But the future. It's not something I was meant to know.

Kurama left me with a quiet mention of coming back to me on school. Something told me that to "fit in" in this new world, he wasn't going to just let me let it go. Whatever. At this point I was so clouded in my mind over everything else and my slight fury at being sixteen.

Before I knew it we were off the boat and I was standing in front of Yusuke's house.

The first night with Yusuke was unbearably awkward. He pretty much got home and slept for a day straight and I had to entertain myself. I did this by playing his video games and watching his movies. Yusuke's mom brought me stuff to eat. She was oddly perfectly fine with taking me in. Still, I felt weird being there. Well, I felt odd being anywhere. I was in a frickin anime. I didn't know if I'd ever feel normal again.

When Yusuke finally did wake up, he had nearly forgotten about me. When he did, he grumbled something about Koenma being stupid, but none of the normal insults you'd hear in the tv show. It made me wonder if Koenma wasn't actually a toddler. I mean, he didn't have that pacifier ever, and you'd never see him without it in the anime. I had shrugged this thought off, not really caring at the time. Still don't, in fact.

In truth, I was more surprised than anything else. At myself. I was taking this whole thing pretty damn well. I mean, how often does your life (well, death) turn into an anime. Well, maybe it happens a lot. I mean, I've only died once.

I ramble a lot. Sorry. Gah! I guess I just have trouble explaining mixed emotions. Or any emotion. Meh.

That afternoon Keiko came over to yell at Yusuke for skipping school. She was adorable in real life. She kept yelling at him then turning to me with an apologetic smile and asking me sweetly if everything was okay living here and oh my lordy she's so cute. I love her. Which is surprising. Her character always annoyed the crap out of me in the show. I mean, she was an okay character, but I never liked her. Now I just want to go shopping with her and watch her beat up the all-powerful Yusuke.

We did get the chance to hang out that weekend. Keiko took me shopping so I could have some clothes to wear. I never did mention, did I. When I arrived in my new body I _was_ clothed. For three days I wore what was essentially a pair of cotton pants and shirt, all black. I looked like I was trying to be Hiei. So, I was pretty thankful for the change of clothes. I mean, I like black, but three days in one outfit? I am a girl, after all.

However, it was still really weird. I had an easy time avoiding my reflection at Yusuke's. But you can't exactly do that when trying on clothes. I had a whole new complexion and body type and shit. Every time I saw myself and it wasn't _me_ I had a mini freak out. I really don't think Keiko noticed. Even with all that shit going on in my mind, I had a fun time. Keiko was really easy to get along with and I got a lot of shopping done.

But, who wants to hear about a couple of girls going through stores and trying on clothes. That's something for a thirty second movie montage.

When we got back to Yusuke's I was really tired. Shopping can take a lot out of a girl. But, the day wasn't over. Waiting at home (I wasn't quiet calling it that, but kinda) was my favorite red head. That's a bit of sarcasm and a bit of truth. I would be lying to myself if I didn't say I wasn't a huge Kurama fan girl in my previous life. However, the reason why he was here annoyed the shit out of me.

He was sitting all calm and cool like at the kitchen table like he was royalty despite the dingy surroundings. Kurama motioned for me to sit, and I did, suddenly nervous. I wasn't used to such beautiful guys, and I didn't feel as much of a pedophile knowing we looked the same age and neither of us were that young. He handed me an envelope and then crossed his arms and legs.

"Those are your papers. Koenma created your new identity, so I hope you like it."

I raised an eyebrow up at him and opened the envelope. _Irina Yashimoto_, I read. "I see he just slashed out my name."

"You must admit, it's very difficult for us Japanese to pronounce," Kurama said with a slightest smile on his lips. "But we kept your middle name as your first."

"Yeah, thanks."

The paper said my parents are Japanese but I was born and raised in Russia. "Which works when I can speak Japanese but not read it," I mumbled. Kurama seemed to understand what I was talking about and nodded.

"Now, about schooling," Kurama began after I had finished going over the papers.

"You're not serious are you?" I asked, crossing my arms in frustration. "I graduated high school once. I don't need to do it again," I told him firmly.

Kurama sighed. I could tell he was thinking, I mean, this is Kurama we're talking about. He was too smart not to be thinking about a plan on getting me to go to school, which is just stupid, by the way. I still don't understand why me going to school in this universe was so god damned important to them. Anyway, rambling. Right.

Then, Kurama surprised me. He gave me a very, I would like to call it open, but the way he is, who knows, open look. "What was your life like, before?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"

"What were your interests? What did you study after high school?"

And, ouch, there he hit a sore spot. "I like reading. I read a lot. Watched way too many movies for my own good. Played video games, but mostly with," I paused, thinking about Chris, "a friend of mine. I didn't go to college. Didn't see the point."

It was the truth, at least.

"But, surely, if you enjoy reading as much as you say, you enjoy learning?"

I rolled my eyes. "I like learning. I hate studying. It was a waste of my time," I said bitterly.

"Why?" he asked. I couldn't tell if he was truly puzzled or if he was actually smart enough that the pieces just fell into place for him.

"Doesn't matter anymore." Again, telling the truth. "I'm here now."

"And you have a demon's worth of life ahead of you."

My head perked up. Of course, a demon _would _live much longer than a human, wouldn't they. Even if I had made it past twenty-four.

"I can do so much stuff," I muttered.

He nodded. "But right now, you're new. New to this world, new to that body, and there's a lot of things you're going to need to learn. You don't even know if your world's history and this one is the same."

I frowned. He had a good point there.

"So, let's start your new life by doing something familiar, even if it is a bit different. School. Get you into a routine so you can comfortably learn what you need too. And then, since you have nothing but time on your side now, maybe even go to college."

I shrugged. "Okay." Truth was, I had wanted to go to college, but I also didn't see the point. It really wasn't worth it. Not when I already knew I was going to die.


End file.
